ver the past three years, return visits to the eruption site revealed extraordinarily rapid change.
On our April 14, 1991, dive (above) it was obvious that an eruption had just occurred. Dusted by
fine gray ash, fresh lava lay in shards, which we later learned were less than two weeks old. It
seemed we had barely missed an explosion. Dead tube worms looked like spent firecrackers. Since the
specimens we carried to the surface had freshly charred flesh, we dubbed the spot Tube Worm Barbe
cue. At a gaping new fissure we called Hole to Hell (opposite, top), lava was blanketed by acres of